Undergraduate Admissions
Individual CS faculty members have little influence over the undergraduate admissions process, which is coordinated by the University's Office of Undergraduate Admission, not our department. I am happy to discuss CMU with interested students and meet with visitors. In order to ensure that you're connected to the faculty members best matching your interests, please begin by contacting the CS undergraduate program administrator, Catharine Fichtner. She can refer you to people inside and outside the department and arrange appointments as necessary.
CS M.S. Program
Applications to the CSD course-based M.S. program (MSCS) are handled by a committee. Prospective students should start with the MSCS information page.
Things to know about this program:
- It is a course-based program. Students may, with the permission of their advisor, count some supervised research toward degree requirements, but this is completely optional.
- It is not designed as a "feeder" for the Ph.D. program. The admissions process is designed to predict which students will do well in our challenging courses, and the graduation requirements do not include the sort of research experience which our Ph.D. admissions focus on.
- Prospective students apply to the program as a whole, not to individual advisors. Contacting individual faculty members during the application process is unlikely to positively influence your chances of being admitted--the best thing you can do is ensure that the formal application you submit demonstrates your technical knowledge and skills, work experience, and proficiency with written and spoken English.
Most faculty are happy to speak with admitted students about their interests and to recommend which courses might match a student's interests.
In addition to the M.S. in CS, the School of Computer Science offers a wide variety of M.S. programs.
Ph.D. Program
Unlike some departments, in which graduate students more or less apply to particular doctoral advisors, the CSD Ph.D. program coordinates admissions via a committee. Contacting individual faculty members during the application process is unlikely to positively influence your chances of being admitted--the best thing you can do is ensure that the formal application you submit demonstrates your technical knowledge and potential for creative research in an academic setting.
Hence, form-letter mail such as "Dear Sir or Madam, I'm really excited about some or all of your most excellent publications and how can I become your student?" will probably not receive an answer.
Prospective applicants should direct most questions about procedure (which program(s) should I apply to?) or substance (who is interested in sensor networks?) to the Admissions Coordinator or Associate Department Head.
Most faculty are happy to speak with admitted students about their research interests and to recommend which other faculty members a student might be interested in working with.
Summer Internships
If you are not a student at CMU, I am unaware of programs or processes by which you might carry out a summer internship here. Thus, if you are a CMU student, please drop by to see me; if not, please do not send me an internship application without clearly indicating which CMU program you are applying through.
